Article 6 of the Constitution (see Chapter 2.2.) has guaranteed the rights of the autochthonous, officially recognized cultural minorities (Germans and Ladins in the province of Bolzano, Slovenians and Croatians in Friuli Venezia Giulia, Greeks and Albanians in Southern Italy and Sicily, Catalans in Sardinia). National and regional legislation since the post-war period (most notably by Law 482/1999), although the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages is yet to be ratified, also well safeguard the minority rights. These minorities all enjoy citizen status and the related civic and cultural rights, with a particular focus on language matters in the... read more →
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If you are not happy with the results below please do another searchSocial inclusion is a distinctive cultural policy issue in Italy. However, it is pursued through initiatives mostly characterized by a fragmented, bottom-up approach, and it is still poorly investigated by social and statistical surveys. A few initiatives are indeed promoted by the State, like “Take part!”, a call by the Ministry of Culture in favor of the marginal and peripheral areas of the country[1]. Another example is Theatre in prison programs, which are strongly supported by the Ministry of Justice. A growing number of individual initiatives, carried out separately or jointly by Regional and local authorities, associations of the Third... read more →
In Italy, thanks to the pioneering studies of Prof. Walter Santagata, the cultural and creative industries have been at the centre of scientific debates that have progressively defined its borders and elaborated methodologies for collecting quantitative and qualitative data. In recent years, thanks to the collaboration of public and private research bodies, the definition of the cultural and creative sector is identified by the 4-digit NACE codes as in the main international studies. In detail, macro-domains that refer to the cultural and creative industries (CCI) have been defined as follow: Architecture and design, Communication, Audiovisual and music, Video games and... read more →
Heritage has always been the main focus of the Italian cultural policy, starting from the name of the first Ministry established in 1974, Ministry for Heritage (“Ministero per i Beni Culturali e ambientali”), notwithstanding the broader competence on different cultural domains, such as performing arts, libraries, film, and landscape. In 2013 the name changed to the Ministry for the Heritage, Cultural Activities and Tourism (“Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali” /MiBACT), due to the enlargement of the competences, including tourism. Recently the responsibilities on tourism have been transferred for a short while to the Ministry of Agricultural policies... read more →
Although immigration and the growing diversity of the Italian population have become highly contested issues over the past two decades, there still seems to be no clear role insight for cultural policies to address them. Due to its relatively short history as a country of immigration and to the constantly shifting moods of political coalitions, Italy’s “model of integration” is more difficult to pinpoint than in other European countries. In this general framework, it is not surprising that new citizens’ fundamental right to culture and freedom of expression, enshrined in the Constitution, has not yet been explicitly promoted – let... read more →
The projects of professional international cooperation in the arts and culture in which Italy has engaged are countless, and a comprehensive picture cannot be drawn, given the fragmentation of the actors involved. This chapter focuses on a few of the many significant international projects in which different public and private institutions/organizations are involved. There is a number of on-going projects which have a consolidated history of partnership among European cultural institutions and guarantee a strong level of continuity, such as: Michael-Multilingual Inventory for Heritage in Europe started in 2004 by MIC-Ministry of Culture in partnership with the French Ministry for... read more →
The actors responsible for international cultural cooperation are: 1) MAECI - Ministry for Foreign Affair and International Cooperation. Law 125/2014 is aimed at modernizing Italian cooperation activities through the construction of four pillars: firstly, the “coherence of government policies” guaranteed by the Inter-ministerial Committee for Cooperation and Development (CICS); secondly, the institution of a Vice-Minister for Cooperation; thirdly, the definition of “an Italian cooperation system” that oversees the involvement and interaction of new players from the non-profit sector and the private one; and fourthly, the Italian Agency for Cooperation and Development (AICS), which began operating in 2016 and acts as... read more →
The twenty Italian Regions – all endowed with legislative powers and ad hoc administrative structures in the cultural sector (regional departments for culture / “Assessorati regionali alla cultura”, in some cases associated with other domains like education and tourism) – are split into two groups (see chart 3): Five autonomous Regions, created in the post-war period and endowed with more extended competencies in the cultural field. Out of these five autonomous Regions, according to their statutory laws, three – Valle d’Aosta, Sicily, and Trentino-Alto Adige – also exercise, through their decentralised Soprintendenze, exclusive and direct legislative and administrative responsibility for... read more →
Administrative functions At the national level, responsibilities for the cultural sector lie presently with 4 Ministries (see Chart 1). The Ministry of Culture (MiC) Chart 2 shows the new organizational structure of the Ministry provided for by the Decree of the President of the Council of Ministers 123/2021. As previously illustrated, over the years, the Ministry has undergone several transformations at organizational and functional levels. After a long-lasting separation of functions between cultural heritage and the performing arts, at the end of the past century, the Ministry has been entrusted with the full range of core cultural functions: heritage, museums,... read more →
Objectives In the Italian Constitution, the main legislative reference in cultural matters is represented by Article 9, which states: “The Republic promotes the development of culture and scientific and technical research. It protects the landscape and the historical and artistic heritage of the Nation”. The main legislative implementation of Art. 9 is due to the Heritage and Landscape Codex, adopted by Leg. Decree 42/2004,that synthesized in a single text a large number of previous specific laws (see chapter 4.2.2). Within the broader framework of the cultural objectives pursued by the 1947 Constitution - heritage and landscape protection, cultural development, pluralism... read more →